There are various exercises which are performed to improve and/or increase the muscular strength or tone of the upper body. The simplistic exercises are those in which the upper torso is twisted and turned, the arms are raised and lowered in a rhythmic pattern, the muscles are tensed and moved against an imaginary counterforce, i.e. isometric exercise, the body is spaced from a wall and the exercisor then stresses the arm and chest muscles by forcefully leaning into and cyclically pushing the body toward and away from the wall. More stressful exercises are those in which the body is generally placed parallel to a horizontal surface in an extended position and while maintaining the extended position the body is pivotally moved about the feet by the use of the arms. There are two exercise positions which can be employed to conduct such muscular stressing. One is known as push-ups and the other is known as dips.
Push-ups and seated dips (hereinafter referred to as "dips") are two exercises that develop primarily the chest muscles with a lesser emphasis on the arms and shoulders. Push-ups are performed by the user laying face-down on a flat horizontal surface and raising and lowering his upper body by vertically extending and contracting his arms. "Dips" are performed by the user maintaining a seated position with his feet on the floor or in a more stressed position on a raised surface, placing his hands on separate supports, and raising and lowering his body by vertically extending and contracting his arms.
Devices for performing pushups can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,610,448; 4,358,106; 4,351,525 and 2,666,640 as examples. These devices raise the portion of the hands of the exercisor above the floor, thus allowing the user to lower the upper portion of his body below the normal level of the shoulders when performing push-ups. Likewise, when performing dips, the devices permit the lower trunk of the body to fall below the upper level of the devices between the devices. When performing either of these exercises, muscles are required to only counter a vertical force which is the weight of the body.